


Alternate, Alternate Reality

by hpets



Category: Eureka
Genre: M/M, Spoilers: Season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 06:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1142565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hpets/pseuds/hpets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reality they return to after 1947 is definitely not what Jack was expecting, especially when he makes it home and finds a ghost using his favourite yellow dish cloth</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> A Eureka FanFic
> 
> AN: Hello everyone. I decided I really like Eureka and thought why not write a fanfic. This is set at the beginning of season 4 when they switch realities when they return back to their own time. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the Eureka TV series or anything to do with the Eureka franchise
> 
> Unbeta’d = lots of missed mistakes (please don’t hate me)

ALTERNATE

They were back, they had made it but he needed to get home, he needed to find out what had changed. He needed to know Zoe was ok.

The door opened at his touch and with a tentative step he walked inside. It didn’t look like anything had changed, at least at first. But he was positive that grey jacket hanging on the coat rack wasn’t his and pink gumboots weren’t his either. He really hoped they weren’t Zoe’s either because he didn’t think he could deal with her terrible two’s again. 

“Sarah?” Jack questioned tentatively, “You there?” 

“Yes Sheriff.”

His house’s voice sent gave him a small amount of relief. She would know.

“Is Zoe still at Harvard?” 

“Of course Jack, where else would she be,” a familiar condescending tone with a hint of fondness answered. He froze as Stark rounded the corner from the kitchen, the colour draining from his face.

Stark, Nathan Stark was still alive and he was in his kitchen wiping his hand on his yellow spotted dishtowel. 

“I, I,” Nathan smiled at his impaired speech looking him up and down slowly.

“I know you said you had a surprise for me but this I didn’t expect,” He said moving closer a lecherous smile in place as he rested a hand on Jack’s hip, “But I like it, I mean you got the jacket wrong but I’m sure taking it off will be a lot of fun.”

Jack couldn’t move, the man he had watched disintegrate was in his house, the man he was sure hated him or at least really disliked him was in his house. The pretentious asshole that pulled Allison away from him was in his house leaning down to kiss him. 

A high-pitched giggle and a splat interrupted them before Jack could fully comprehend the situation. Nathan pulled away turning towards the noise.

“Jenna I through I told you throwing food is bad,” the man scolded disappearing back into the kitchen. Jack followed after a moment and found a giggling Jenna mashing her spoon into her high chair as Nathan bent down to retrieve her spilt bowl from the floor. 

“Um,” Jack blinked taking in the scene. He saw the scribbled drawings on the fridge and the colourful plastic cups and bowls stacked neatly on the shelves. He took in the toy basket in the corner and a tiny red jacket draped over a chair. He even noticed the broom closet door was partly open giving him a glimpse of an old pram. The dead give away were the pictures adorning the dinning room wall. Pictures of him and Nathan together, smiling and kissing, of them with various people in Eureka including Allison and Henry. And finally of him and Nathan with Jenna first when she was a tiny baby just born by the hospital background to now. Conclusion he and Nathan were a couple, he and Nathan apparently were Jenna’s parents. 

Carter couldn’t believe it. He was with Nathan, Nathan was alive.

“While standing there and looking dashing maybe quiet appealing, you could give me a hand,” Nathan butted into his freak out throwing a dishtowel at him. 

“Right,” Jack replied catching the towel automatically, he could do this he could clean up. 

Slowly Jack managed to get a hold of himself as he methodically went about cleaning up the gluggy porridge from the floor.

“Better get Jenna cleaned up or we won’t make it to the founders day presentations,” Nathan smiled pulling a struggling Jenna from her chair as Jack rinsed out the dishcloth. 

“Ok, I better get into town and check to make sure nothings going to go wrong,” Jack agreed deciding he need to back away, go and find Allison or Henry try and work out what was going on in this time line. 

“Sure Sheriff,” Nathan jibbed peaking Jack on the lips before he could react, “Don’t forget your ring you left it on the sink last night. Wouldn’t want anyone getting any ideas,” He finished in a deadpan voice as he disappeared up stairs with Jenna. His ring he found next to the sponge. It seemed he and Nathan weren’t just together they were married.

ALTERNATIVE

“Allison,” Jack called shutting the door behind him. Allison’s house had been the closest when he all but ran from his own to avoid another encounter with Nathan. 

“In here,” Her voice shaking with emotion came from the kitchen. 

Jack rushed to her when he found her leaning over the counter tears brimming from her eyes.

“Allison, what’s wrong what’s happened, is it Kevin?,” he questioned wrapping a comforting arm around her waist as he lead her to sit at the table.

“No, no, Kevin’s fine. More then fine I mean, ” Alison tried to explain looking up the smallest smile twitching at her lips as she spoke about her son, “He spoke to me he actually looked me in the eyes. But Jack, when I asked about Jenna he said she was with Nathan. And she’s not here. She can’t be,” Alison’s voice cracked unable to continue tears sliding down her cheeks. 

“Hey, hey,” Jack soothed kneeing down beside her, “its ok Jenna’s fine, she’s at my house.”

“What?” she asked confused wiping at her tears, “Why is she there, who’s with her?”

“Stark’s alive Allie, and he has Jenna, but things are a bit different here,” Jack paused standing up as he pulled something from his pocket. 

“Why is Nathan at your house?” She questioned her composure coming back with her curiosity and surprise.

“Because,” Jack said placing his ring on the table between them, “I seem to be married to him.”

“Wait what?,” Allison replied tears stopping at her disbelief as her eyes fixed on the ring sitting on dark wood of the table top. 

“Yeah and Jenna, by the look of all the family photos is supposed to be mine and Stark’s. We have apparently been together since shortly after I arrived in Eureka if they make any sense.” Jack explained everything he had discovered so far investigative mind going back to the photos hanging on the dining room wall.

“So you and Nathan are together and you and he have Jenna?” she tired to confirm pulling her eyes from the ring to look at Jack.

“Yeah that about sums it up.” Jack nodded.

“I have to go see her, is she alright?” hysterical mother switched back.

“Allison, Jenna’s fine, but we might want to figure out this whole situation before we go charging around,” Jack tried to calm her down, “You showing up at my house demanding to see Jenna will tip Stark off that there is something wrong.”

“Well then we need to find Henry and the others. Find out what else has changed,” Allison stood abruptly wiping the last of her tears from her eyes, then looked down. She still had on the nurses uniform from 1947, “Right after I change.”

“Ah yeah,” Jack agreed looking down at his own attire as he stood, he had run out before he even considered getting changed, “I have a spare uniform at the station we should all meet up there.”

“Ok you go round up the others I’ll meet you there,” she told him as she disappeared down the hall. 

“OK,” Jack called after her as he made for the door, but not before sliding his ring from the table and placing it back in his pocket. 

ALTERNATE

It didn’t take long to find the others. All of them had made their way back into town hoping to find some familiarity after finding out life wasn’t as they had left it. Now the five time travellers stood around Jack’s desk, Henry and Fargo sorting through his computer trying to find anything they could about their new reality.

“I mean how can the world we know have changed so much, I don’t understand,” Jack mused exacerbated staring down at the ring now resting on his desk, the gold gleaming dully in the light stretching across the vanished wood.

“It’s like a domino effect,” Henry tried to explain without looking up from his search, “Just being in 1947 changed history and anything we did increased that change so we have this altered reality we are in now.”

“But I’m not gay, but this realities Jack is I mean,” Jack started to babble trying to work out the problem in his head, “Not that there is anything wrong with being gay, But I’m not so how could I be with Stark. I mean how is he even here. He died saving reality.”

“It just means that that event never happened and he never had to enter the chamber,” Fargo butted in voice excited, “So he’s alive.”

“Ok, ok that’s explainable but how is it that I still have Zoe, Stark said she was at Harvard. So was I even ever married to Abby?” Jack questioned looking to Henry for answers.

“Well your records say you were,” Henry said turning the computer to face the room, “And they say you were divorced just before you came to Eureka.”

“So that’s the same then,” Jack replied scanning the information on his file or at least the information they could actually access from his computer, “What about everything else?”

“Looking through your files,” Fargo continued turning the computer towards him, “You married Stark about a year after you got here, Um and he never married Ms Blake.”

“So I was never married to Nathan,” Allison stated looking a little saddened by the news.

“No, but,” Henry added pulling up some photos in an attempt to cheer her up, “You do seem to be close.”

The photos in Jack’s personal files showed many for the three of them together with Kevin and Jenna after she was born. One in particular stood out of Nathan and Allison laughing together, the poor quality of the photo indicating Jack as the photographer.

“So Nathan and I are just good friends,” Allison confirmed taking in the images.

“It seems so,” Henry confirmed turning the computer back.

“But what about Jenna,” she wanted to know, her daughter the first thing on her mind.

“I can pull up her birth records,” Henry said pausing for a moment hands flying over the keyboard. 

“Oh,” Fargo exclaimed wary as he read the files over his shoulder.

“What oh,” Allison demanded to know moving forward needing to know all the details about why her daughter wasn’t with her.

“It seems Jack was right,” Henry explained reading out the files, “You are Jenna’s mother but it seems you were a surrogate. It says here Jack and Nathan are her legal guardians.”

“What so I just gave up my child,” Allison demanded voice rising with a hysterical note throwing her hands up.

“No, I don’t know,” Henry said trying stop her form over reacting, “I can’t get that information from here. But we might be able to get it from GD.”

“Ok so we need to get into GD and access the files there,” Jo nodded helping the situation to stay calm by placing a hand on Allison’s shoulder, preventing her from charging off.

“Yeah and then we can find out everything else. Like if me and Jo are rulers of the universe or something cause otherwise this universe plain sucks.” Fargo grumbled drawing the attention away from Jack and Allison’s situation.

“Why do you say that, what’s changed for you guys,” Jack asked concerned hip leaning against his own desk.

“Well my sorta girlfriend is a trillionaire and married to an astronaut,” Fargo trailed off to let Jo have her say.

“And apparently Zane and I were never a couple,” Jo confessed still trying to process it all.

“Jo,” Carter tried to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder, “I’m really sorry, I know..”

“Its ok,” Jo stopped him shrugging his comfort aside as she curled her own arms around her middle, “I just have to deal.”

“Hey what about me, my girlfriend is gone too,” Fargo butted in, not wanting to be left out.

“Fargo,” Allison cut him off, “I’m really sorry Jo, I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed, “But for now I think its best we don’t tell anyone about what’s happened.”

“Yeah no that’s probably best,” Jack agreed.

“So what do we do now?” Jo questioned.

“We try and get on with our lives,” Henry said, “Until we can find out more, find away to get back.”

“Well I think we can manage that,” Fargo agreed slightly disappointed.

“Speak for yourself,” Jack shook his head, “You aren’t married to the biggest, male I might add, ass in town.”

“Nathan’s not that bad,” Allison argued in defence of the man she’d once loved and knew to be dead up until an hour ago. 

“Yeah to you,” Jack mumbled under his breath adjusting his utility belt. 

Allison narrow her eyes at him just missing what he said, “What was that Jack?”

“Nothing,” Jack jerked his head back up shoving his hands into his pockets, “I just..”

“So this is where you all are,” Nathan’s voice cut him off startling the group as he stepped through the door into the bullpen eyes roaming over the scene before him. 

“Nathan,” Allison breathed her sudden realization that Nathan, the man she had almost married again was alive and smiling his calculating smile at the room eyeing each and everyone of them with a suspicious twinkle.

Fargo was the first to react.

“Oh my god, Dr. Stark I’m so glad to see you I can’t, your alive,” He babbled wrapping his arms around the doctor.

“Um glad to see you too Dr. Fargo,” Nathan replied a little confused as he pried Fargo’s arms from his waist, “Can someone explain to me what’s going on,” he asked eyes turned directly to Jack.

“Um,” was all he managed before Allison stepped in.

“It’s nothing,” Allison replied taking Fargo’s place as she wrapped her arms around the man, assuring herself when she felt his warmth that the dream she found herself in was real, “Just glad to see you.”

“Right, ok,” Nathan just agreed arms going around her back as he sensed her distress, eyes searching once again for Jack’s asking for a silent explanation. Jack couldn’t meet his eyes as his hand darted out of his pocket to grab the ring, slipping it on his finger before Nathan could notice. 

“Where’s Jenna?” Allison asked stepping back eyes roaming over Nathan’s face, her heart fluttered as she took in his familiar features while her mind catalogued the changes; how his eyes seemed to soften when they darted towards Jack, a look she could remember him giving her just before their first wedding.

“Right here,” came a female voice in the doorway pulling Alison away from her observations of Nathan as she fixed on the child in the woman’s arms. Grace from the founders day committee stepped into the large office Jenna perched on her hip, a big smile brightening her beautiful face. 

“Hey baby girl,” Allison’s reaction was instant scooping up her little girl from the unfamiliar woman to hold her close, taking in her scent, needing the assurance of feeling her child was secure in her arms. 

“We have been looking for you everywhere,” Grace smiled graciously allowing Allison to take Jenna from her arms Henry in her sights, “Your late sweetie.”

Fargo’s eyebrows rose in question at her statement, shifting out of the way as she walked across the office a determined look on her face.

“Late for what?” Henry questioned confused as she lent over the desk and pressed soft lips against his cheek. He was quick to press sleep when he saw her eyes dart to the screen before pulling away. A suspicious look passed across her eyes for a moment gaze darting to Jack’s anxious look and Allison fixated on her daughter. 

“Shut up,” Grace laughed quickly regaining her smile as she pulled a slip of paper from Henry’s pocket, “Giving speeches is his favourite part of being mayor, he loves it. Now come on your towns people are waiting.”

“Right ok,” Henry agreed taking the slip of paper, looking over the unfamiliar words written in his own hand. Grace whirled out of the office with a wink to finish getting the podium ready. 

“She’s on the committee,” Jack mumbled shifting closer so only Henry could hear remembering the woman he had met earlier in the day before all of this started. 

“And I’m pretty sure I’m married to her,” Henry replied quietly showing him his ring as he stood from the desk. 

“Ha,” Fargo exclaimed drawing everyone’s attention including Nathan’s, “You’re not the only one Sheriff.”

“Only what?” Nathan questioned looking at Jack as the three other time travellers glared at Fargo for the slip.

“Um, only,” Fargo tried to think up a plausible thing to explain, “Only one to..”

“Why don’t we go watch Henry’s speech?” Jack cut him off deciding they really didn’t need to hear Fargo’s excuse, motioning for Henry to go first. 

“Yeah,” Fargo exclaimed, the first to jump on that idea and bolted for the door, Jo followed at a more sedate place, eyes looking between Jack and Henry as they left a promise to continue the meeting later. Jack heard Fargo mutter something to Jo about Stark calling him doctor, an excited question in his tone. 

“And where do you think you’re going?” Nathan voice lowered in tone as he grabbed Jack’s wrist preventing him from following Fargo’s bolt for the door.

“Going to see Henry’s speech,” He replied tentatively attempting to step closer to the door and away from the sultry look in Stark’s eye. Allison was no help, her only thought for her daughter as she disappeared following the others into the sun streaming through the door. 

“Shouldn’t we talk about this uniform thing, I mean I love this one but I was looking forwards to taking the other off,” Nathan’s eyes lingered over his body moving closer to curl a hand into Jack’s belt.

“Um I, It was just,” Jack tried flustered as Nathan’s lips inched closer he turned at the last moment Stark’s lips and beard tickling his cheek, “I hear Henry we should go,” Jack said quickly pulling out of Nathans hold and dashing for the door. He didn’t turn around to see the look of hurt confusion flitter across Nathan’s face or the sparks of suspicion grow stronger.

ALTERNATIVE

Outside Jack breathed in relief as he spotted Allison with Jenna to one side of the crowd listening intently to Henry’s heartfelt speech. Jogging over to them he smiled at Allison making googoo eyes at her daughter. He was happy Jenna was still here in this timeline, but he wasn’t sure if he and Nathan should be the one raising her. Hell he and Nathan never seemed to agree on anything so how were they supposed to raise a child together. So the question was what could be possibly do to let Nathan down and tell him he didn’t love him or find him attractive, at least he didn’t think he did. He’d never actually really thought about it. He knew from experience divorce could be messy and with a child involved especially Allison’s child; he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do in this situation. 

Before he reached Alison Jenna’s face scrunched, as a child’s face would do when upset, her big brown eyes squeezing shut. Jack could hear her start to fuss as Allison moved away from the crowd bouncing her up and down in an attempt to stop the tears. 

He followed, “Hey Jenna,” he tried as he reached them giving Allison a reassuring smile hoping maybe he could help sooth Jenna, but not entirely sure how to go about it. 

Jenna turned at his voice her brown eyes blinking to fix on him; her chubby baby fingers reach as she wriggled in Allison’s grasp babbling through her tears. Jack took her out of Allison’s arms on instinct cuddling the little girl to his chest keeping his voice low and soothing as he spoke, “Hey Jenna what’s up what’s wrong?” he tried asking bouncing her gently. She clutched at his shirt her tears drying and her smile returning as she buried her face in his shoulder. 

Jack looked up with a smile pleased he’d managed to calm Jenna down, the look on Allison’s face had that small amount of accomplishment draining away in an instant, “I, Allison, I’m,” he wasn’t sure what to say. He’d just taken Allison’s child from her arms and calmed her down with a few soft words. Devastated was an underestimation of what Allison would be feeling as she realized Jenna, the little girl that only that morning had been looking up at her adoringly, was not her little girl anymore.

“It’s, it’s ok Jack,” she managed with a sad smile a hand resting on Jenna’s back for a moment before she pulled away, “She seems really comfortable with you.”

“Allison,” Jack tried again, but before he could find the words Nathan strode up to them a big smile plastered across his face pushing an empty pram.

“Are you two even listening to Henry’s speech?” He grinned placing a hand on the small of Jack’s back making the sheriff jolt in surprise at the intimate contact. Nathan seemed to barely notice leaning his hip against Jack’s and reaching up to ruffle Jenna’s hair like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

“Ah,” Alison startled at what to say, her attention focused on the family picture Jack and Nathan made with little Jenna’s toothy smile. 

“We, Jenna was fussing so we thought we should move away,” Jack answered for them thinking on his feet, doing his best not to tense up under Nathan’s hand. 

“Oh our little Jen’s grumpy,” Nathan surprised them with teasing babyish tone as he addressed his daughter, wiping a thumb gently across her check to remove the tear tracks from her skin, “She hasn’t been sleeping so well since her teeth started coming in, “ his tone changed as he spoke to the adults present eyes flickering to Jack, perhaps a slight challenge sparking in the dark irises, “Isn’t that right Jack.”

“Yeah, no,” Jack laughed covering as much as he could, “Went through the same thing with Zoe,” he turned to Allison trying to keep the man’s focus away from him, “I’m sure Kevin went through the same thing when he was teething.”

“Oh of course,” Allison managed after a moments hesitation trying not to think about the nights she had spent trying to sooth Jenna’s sores when she couldn’t sleep, “I ah used to use a little numbing cream, paediatrics at GD are developing some really good things now to help with teething.”

Jack eyes dart away, focusing over Allison’s left shoulder hoping his inattention would keep the conversation away from Jenna and her teeth and towards safer subjects that he wasn’t expected to know anything about, like the mechanics behind the fully emptying bottle or how the baby monitor works to monitor the mothers and babies physiologies. 

A man appeared in his line of vision, a man wearing an old military jacket that looked very familiar casting his eye over the vintage 1940’s car moved from the museum for founders day.

“Sorry, excuse me,” Jack broke in to Allison and Nathan’s conversation of the molecular composition of absorbent nappies barely realising he’d handed Jenna over to Stark instead of Allison who should have been his automatic choice, “Just remembered I need to speak to someone,” He informed them striding towards Grant, the 1940’s scientist that really should not be in the 21st century. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jack demanded as soon as he was in hearing range hands on hips, and extremely annoyed. It was bad enough he found himself married to Stark, who was very much alive, now he had to deal with blast from the past science man who he knew was bad news the moment he met him. 

“Well hello to you to Sport,” Grant grinned cockily. The day just got worse from there. 

ALTERNATIVE

Jack stumbled into the bunker dropping his gun belt onto the side table as he murmured a greeting as SARAH’s welcomed him home. It had been a long day. After finding out he was married to Nathan Stark of all people and they had Jenna together, he’d found out Dr Trevor Grant had used his phone that Henry had rigged to jump to the future, Jo was head of security at GD and Fargo the director, while he ended up with Sheriff Andy as his deputy. The AI had then managed to work out about the whole time travel fiasco before his mechanical brain was fried by the lightning thingy that he and Nathan had managed to stop from frying the rest of the town. 

Allison finding out she was the medical director had been quick to look up her and Jenna’s medical records finding out she had volunteered to be surrogate for Nathan and Jack, with a donated egg. It seemed something had happened that caused one of Allison’s eggs to be fertilised instead of the donor egg resulting in Jenna. And she couldn’t be sure if any of them from this reality knew about the mix up especially since the donor of the egg shared her blood type. 

And to top it off Henry had declared that the bridge device was dead and they weren’t ever going to make it back to their own timeline. Allison had then added the sprinkles. They couldn’t tell anyone they were from an alternative time line or they’d all be sanctioned. 

He drained his beer, that SARAH had been kind enough to pour him at his request in one go, hoping the alcohol might help him blur out some of the details he wished had never changed. He shuffled up stairs pausing at the door to Jenna’s room as he heard the warm tone of Nathan’s familiar voice telling the tale of princes and princesses to the little girl curled in his lap. He’d known Stark was home when he stepped in, his suit jacket draped over the back of the couch a dead give away, but looking at him now reading to his little girl made something in his heart clench. This man in his own timeline had disintegrated in front of his eyes, his smirk permanently etched in his mind as he asked him to look after Allison, had never met his daughter never nor had the chance to read her a quiet bed time story and watch as she fell asleep in his arms. The sight brought back so many memories of when he’d had the chance to glimpse the softness and helpless emotion hidden beneath the hard snarky exterior, each of those times when the scientist couldn’t hide any longer. He knew Allison knew that side of Stark better then he ever would and that was one of the reasons she loved him so much. Jack slipped away before Nathan could look up and catch him hovering. 

The bedroom brought him back to reality as his eyes fell on the pair of reading glasses resting atop a book on advanced physics on the bedside table opposite the one he would usually place his glass of water. The sight had him dashing for the door once again, yelling something about forgetting paper work to cover his tracks. As much as he could deal with Nathan living with him, he was nowhere near ready enough to deal with having to share a bed with the man. 

The sheriff’s station was familiar and it made it easier for Jack to forget about the man that was now inhabiting his house, who had once been his rival for Allison’s affections and who was now apparently in love with him. It made for a very messed up love triangle he thought slumping in his desk chair especially since he had no idea how Allison felt about their kiss in 1947 or how he was supposed to feel about Stark, now that he was alive and not snarking at him as usual. How the deep brown of his eyes seemed to light up whenever he focused them on Jack, and how they darkened with sorrow when he brushed him aside as he ran from the attention. 

He picked up the papers stacked neatly on his desk, forms filled and ready for filing. He’d already done all the paper work for the lightning fiasco. Filling out reports on crazy scientists and their explosive experiments had become second nature to him and he’d filled them out before he met his fellow time travellers in Café Diem. 

The filing draw rattled as he pulled it open and selected a folder to place the papers in. One thing he was grateful for was the old school filing system, much better then the crazy computer filing system GD kept. Sighing he pulled out a few of the older files and dropped them on his desk. It was probably a good idea for him to check over all the old files, make sure me could remember all the incidents he should and see if there were any that happened in this time line and not his own. 

It was a little past midnight when he pushed himself away from the desk leaving files littered across the polished wood. His shirt and belt he left draped over the back of his chair as he slumped towards the cot. It was no where near as comfortable as his bed, but it didn’t have a beared scientist invading it so he could forget about the springs digging into his back as he allowed his eyes to droop. Sleep couldn’t come fast enough after the insane day he’d had. 

Sleep unfortunately was not an option as he jerked upright, the creak of the front door pulling from blissful dreams. 

“St.. Scientist,” Jack amended quickly as he saw his ‘husband’ silhouetted in the doorway, “What are you doing here?” 

“I should be asking you the same thing sheriff,” Nathan replied striding forwards so he could sit down beside Jack who was too tired to move. The soft wool of his jumper brushed his bare arm as the man leaned closer, the smell of his expensive cologne tickling his nose. 

Jack forced a smile, he had worked out quickly that they used their titles as pet names instead of honey or sweetheart. Those endearments were likely reserved for when they were truly mad at each other because that’s what he would do if they were actually a couple, not that he had ever actually thought about it til now. 

“I didn’t what to wake you,” he muttered his excuse sliding a hand over his eyes as he leaned forward on his knees an easy way to put a little distance between them without being too obvious. 

Nathan obviously didn’t catch the hint as he leaned in closer arm finding its way around his waist, “While I understand your memory isn’t as good as say mine,” he teased lacking any of the bite Jack would expect from the Nathan Start he’d once known, “You would think you would remember be telling you that I would rather be woken by your big feet stumbling through the dark at some ungodly hour then wake up in the morning without you.”

Jack sat up blinking at the brown eyes watching him closely, he knew he should feel insulted, but the warmth in Stark’s tone made it extremely difficult, “I,” Jack started unsure what to say at first then, “Ok I’ll remember,” he finished too tired to argue as he allowed himself to slump into Nathan’s side enjoying the warmth of another body even if it was his former arch nemesis. Whatever he and the Jack of this time had, it must have been good. 

“We should head home,” Jack yawned pulling himself away trying not to hyperventilate at the prospect of sharing a bed with the man. Sharing body heat in a moment of weakness brought on by exhaustion could easily be rationalised as just being friendly, but sharing a bed was very much out of his comfort zone. 

He stretched as he stood ignoring the appreciative look Nathan sent his way, as the scientist followed ready to head for the door, then he remember the little girl under their care, “Where’s Jenna?” 

“She’s at home asleep why?” Nathan said voice flippant like it was the most natural thing in the world shepherding him towards the door.

Jack stopped turning so he could look at his new ‘spouse’ properly, “And who’s watching her?”

“I asked SARAH to keep an eye on her, she’s fine,” the scientist replied quickly placing a hand on Jack’s arm to turn him back towards the door. 

“What!” Jack exploded, his tiredness evaporating completely, “You left the house to watch out daughter,” he yelled hardly realising what he was saying, “Do you have, I don’t even. What happens if she wakes up and no one’s there what happens if something happens to her!” He demanded. 

“SARAH’s capable of calming her and calling us if she needs help,” Nathan assured him trying to talk him down.

“She a house not a bloody baby sitter,” Jack growled hands flying to his hips before he threw them up in exasperation and fled to the door, not wanting to leave the house in charge for longer then necessary. 

“SARAH is more qualified then any baby sitter,” Nathan told him as he followed at a more sedate pace, “And you agreed it would be ok for short periods.”

“I would never agreed to that ever,” Jack growled yanking at the car door. 

Nathan smirked reaching the passenger side, “You did the other night when I was..” 

“That does not count,” Jack shot back feeling his cheeks heat as he thought about what exactly Stark was eluding to. 

The drive back to the bunker was silent as Jack fumed, relief bubbling as he realised he had an excuse to keep Nathan in the doghouse for a few days. Because who the hell would leave an 18 month old under the care of the freaking house, even if that house was an extremely brilliant self learning AI. 

ALTERNATIVE


	2. After a while

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate, Alternate Reality
> 
> A Eureka FanFic
> 
> AN: Hello everyone. Any sciencey stuff mentioned totally made up so if it sounds wrong it probably is. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy. :D

Chapter 2

The first night was the hardest. He’d used Nathan’s leaving Jenna under SARAH’s care as an excuse to banish the snarky scientist to the couch. Even after SARAH’s insistence that she was quite capable of watching over Jenna without limbs. It wasn’t much later he was awakened from his exhausted sleep by Nathan sneaking into the room and slipping under the covers. He did his best not to react pretending sleep as the warmth of the man beside him seeped into the covers. Stark if he noticed didn’t comment, and he eventually fell back to sleep listening to the rhythmic breathing beside him. In the morning he woke to find himself snuggled against Stark, one of the man’s arms secured around his shoulders like the lovers they were supposed to be. 

That more then anything had him on edge all day as he dodged Stark and his affections muttering something about paperwork and the ‘Tiny’ incident as an excuse. Over the next month, between looking after Jenna, and dealing with crazy scientists ideas of advancement, he did notice something with Stark. In public he was always touching him, mostly inappropriately if Jack had anything to say about it especially around Alison, almost like he was staking his claim. But in the privacy of the bunker he backed off, like he was letting Jack have his sanctuary. He didn’t stop touching him, or attempting to kiss him when his guard was down, but his touches were softer, not as suggestive, almost friendly if Jack had to define them. It was weird but he was slowly starting to get use to having Stark’s presence in his house and in his bed. 

The main problem he faced now was what to do about their marriage. Henry was his best source of advice, him going through a similar thing with Grace. Neither of them wanted to tip their genius level spouse off that something was wrong, but they knew it wasn’t exactly working, not after Grace was asking Jack questions about Henry and another woman. Divorce had been suggested of course, and on that subject Henry had confessed he may slowly be falling in love with his wife. Jack with his bleeding heart couldn’t do that not with Jenna, not after what he and Abby had put Zoe through in their divorce. And he was afraid that if he did divorce Nathan he would leave Eureka and take Jenna with him. He couldn’t allow that, and Alison would kill him if it happened. 

Alison. Alison was another matter entirely. Jack had done everything to give Alison time with Jenna, getting her to babysit when Jack and Nathan had their ‘date nights’ where Nathan would take him to Café Diam for dinner. Taking her with him when ever he was to see Alison and when he couldn’t he told Alison everything he could remember about what Jenna had done that day, what she ate and the clothes she wore in an attempt to keep her involved in her daughters life. But every time the looks she gave him were darker more resentful. She always tried to be friendly like normal but in this reality Jack would always be the man who took her ‘perfect’ family away from her. And it was only made worse as her attention and affections turned to Kevin and he as the teenager he was sort refuge away from his suddenly over bearing mother in the bunker. 

As for the others, Fargo was overwhelmed by his ‘new’ job as director of GD, but Jack knew he was secretly pleased he could order everyone around. Jo was still dealing with losing Zane, drowning her self in her job as GD’s head of security. Grant they had set up as a science historian and the man was probably the happiest of all of them in this new reality getting his grubby paws on all the 21st century technology. 

The one thing he was grateful for in this reality was that Zoe hadn’t changed, she was still strong willed and sarcastic happily studying pre-med at Harvard. He planned to drop in on her one weekend and surprise her, but with all the catastrophes since they entered this reality he hadn’t had a chance to get away. 

Stark was head of section five at GD, and in charge of most of the scientists that caused world ending disasters. He was also the one to help him clean up the messes. This wasn’t much of a surprise since the scientist had done the same before his death in the other reality but what did surprised Jack was that Stark actually told him the truth. Since they had switched realities the man had never once shot him down with ‘it’s classified’ or ‘it’s need to know’ he just explained the problem in a way he could understand and they fixed it. He hadn’t had to ask Henry to translate all the scientific stuff for an entire month. 

Today GD was testing a new EMP device or something. It was supposed to be used to disrupt guns, and stop them firing using some sort of electronic wave. He wasn’t sure exactly how something that shot out invisible waves could stop a gun from firing but if it worked it could save a lot of lives. He had tagged along with Stark at Fargo’s request to make sure everything ran smoothly and back Jo up if anything went wrong. The request also happened to include borrowing his side arm, as he found out after the two scientists working on the project finished their enthusiastic rattle on how fantastic the whole science thing was. 

“No way,” Jack’s answer was quick as his hand rested over his gun, “Why can’t you use Jo’s, she’s head of security.”

“We need someone who knows guns,” Jack glared at Fargo as he started his little explanation. Everybody knew Jo knew more about guns then anyone else in Eureka, “And..” Fargo continued pretending he wasn’t trying to hide behind his head of security’s slight frame, “We need a gun that would normally be used on the street.”

“You think my gun would be used by any old street thug,” Jack was offended. 

“It’s not that,” Jo tried as Stark stood back a smirk forming on his lips, amused by the argument “ My gun’s are top of the line, this one has 100% accuracy with laser sight, platinum grip and takes any clip, I prefer 9 mm rounds,” Jo spoke of her gun with the enthusiasm of a mother praising her only child as she pulled it from the holster at her hip.

Jack waited expectantly for her to finish, “And,”

“Not something that’s available to the general public,” she finished placing the sleek black metal back in its holster abruptly realising what she was doing. 

“ Your gun is..” Fargo attempted to push the point across stopping at Jack’s narrowed eyes.

“And my gun is what?” he asked hands on hips staring the director of GD down.

“Normal, your gun is normal, standard,” Fargo squeaked clearing his voice to bring it back to its normal pitch before straightening his shirt as he stood tall, “Your gun is standard issue for law enforcement so it is a closer match to what’s used by the general public.”

“Right well that’s great,” Jack had to agree that they had him there, “ but why couldn’t you order a bunch of ‘normal’ guns for this test, I’m sure the DOD would provide some.”

Fargo and the two Scientists on the project couldn’t hide their sheepish looks, “This is only the first test, and they forgot they would need guns to test it,” Jo’s deadpan explained, “And you’re the only one they could think of other then me who could be trusted to help.”

“Please sheriff the DOD is expecting the test results tomorrow, we don’t have time to get anyone else,” the Scientist, Hodge pleaded looking pitifully at him. 

“Fine,” Jack shoulders slumped his hands dropping from his hips, “What do you want me to do exactly?”

“Thank you thank you,” exclaimed the scientists as they grabbed at his arm dragging him past the metal tables scattered with bits of colourful wires and micro chips, the computers showing some sort of complex schematics covered in mathematical calculations. 

“All we need is for you to put your gun here and then we’ll shoot it with the molecular nitrate jammer,” Hodge pointed to the futuristic ray gun thing resting on the table.

“Yeah ok and then?” Jack questioned crossing his arms over his chest still not completely happy with the situation. 

“Then,” continued the other scientist, introduced as Mathers, who was pointing at another device that Jack could recognise as some sort of hands off trigger, which meant he wouldn’t be the one firing his gun, “We place it in this device, which will attempt to fire it at that target.”

“And if everything goes to plan,” Hodge added on with a smile, “It shouldn’t fire.”

“And why am I the one not trying to fire my own gun?” Jack asked pulling his weapon from its holster, checking the safety before he placed it in Hodge’s out stretched hand. 

“Because Jack, we don’t want you losing a hand if this ignites the bullets instead of just stopping them in the chamber,” Nathan was suddenly behind him a hand finding its way to his hip. Jack couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through him, the memory of Nathan’s last words flashing through his head, a memory that surfaced each time Stark said his name. 

Jack stepped away seeing Jo’s amused smile from the corner of his eye, “So where should we stand then?” he asked to move the testing along so he could get back to the station, away from Stark and his wondering hands. 

“Just behind this shield, sheriff,” Fargo smiled pointing the way to the plexiglass window set up to the side with red and grey cables running behind it to the silver control panel. 

When everyone was settled behind the screen, Jack making sure Jo and Fargo were between him and Stark, Hodge slipped on his protective glasses and Mathers set himself up at the control panel. 

“Everybody ready?” Hodge checked picking up his fancy gun before turning to Fargo, “Director.”

“You may proceed,” Fargo replied with a nod. Jack had to hold back a smile at the satisfied superior tone in his voice. The little guy really loved being in charge and once he had gotten the hang of it he’d turned out to be a really good head of GD. It was just unfortunate that he had to be reminded occasionally not to be an ass when the power went to his head. 

Hodge nodded to Mathers and activated the gun jammer. Jack might not have been the only one to notice it, but he was the first to react. 

“Stop, shut it off,” He yelled running towards Hodge as the sparks flashed from the casing of the gun jammer and the whine increased to a pitch almost beyond human hearing. 

Hodge’s shocked face was burned into his retina as the explosion threw him back filling his head with white noise before he collided with the back wall and everything faded to black. 

ALTERNATE

The ringing in his ears sounded like static as his eyes blinked open. The flickering lights and sparking machines cast an eerie glow around the room as Jack took in the sight of the ruined lab. Stark loomed over him, his mouth forming words Jack couldn’t hear. He looked concerned, almost scared, but that was an emotion the great Nathan Stark would never show. 

Jack groaned when he tried to move. His whole body felt tingly like he had pins and needles in every muscle. He forced himself to sit up when Stark leaned back to look over his shoulder as the medical team rushed into what was left of the lab, gurney rolling between them. 

“I’m ok, just feel weird,” Jack managed his lips tingling every time he formed a word. Stark completely ignored him. He was yelling something if his jaw moving was anything to go by. Past his shoulder Jo and the others where standing staring down at him in concern looking a little ruffed up but alive and Jack let out a sigh of relief. The screen had protected them from the blast, but Hodge, if the bloody remains half concealed behind the mangled bench indicated anything, hadn’t been so lucky.

“Stark,” He tried reaching out to get the Scientist’s attention, but his hand went straight through Stark’s shoulder as he rose to let the medical team get to work. Jack completely ignored them eyes fixed on the vague outline of his hand made up of shining particles. His fingers flexed at his command and his other hand did the same. They were both glowing softly and when he looked down so was his body. He ran his hands up and down his chest, but the pins and needle feeling just increased at the point his hands touched and he had to pull them away. 

“What?” he managed looking up, searching for Stark, because if anyone could tell him what was happening it would be him. But no one was paying any attention to him, or at least not his glowing form. 

He was sitting in his body, his real body. Startled he stumbled to his feet, passing through a medic and ending up next to a concerned looking Jo. She was barking orders into her phone, but her eyes never left Jack, or at least his body sprawled against the wall uniform singed and skin a little pink. His chest rose and fell with breath so he wasn’t dead. Other then having an out of body experience he had actually come away from the explosion relatively unscathed. Now Jack just had to find his way back into his body and try not to freak out in the mean time. 

ALTERNATE

The medics were quick to secure him to the gurney and as soon as they made it to the infirmary Alison was there hooking him up to every sort of machine, monitoring his heart, his breathing, his brainwaves, everything. 

An hour later he was just standing next to his own bed watching as the doctors and nurses bustled around his body. Alison looked worried as she read whatever readings she was getting. He was slowly getting use to the constant static buzzing in his ears so he could make out every few words that were said. He had broken and fractured ribs, a severe concussion and minor burns. A little bit worse then what he had thought just looking at himself. The concussion could explain his out of body experience, but Jack was pretty sure it was something much more complicated and sciencey then that. It was Eureka after all. 

Jacks eyes flickered over to the side where Stark stood out of the way of the nurses. The man had barely moved since Jack was brought in, his eyes staying fixed on his unconscious body. The only times he had moved were to shout orders. From the snippets Jack could get past the static it was about the lab and investigating the explosion. By the way Fargo and Jo were running back and forth yelling into their phones they were the ones doing most of the work. 

As the reading for each test came through the infirmary slowly started to calm. Alison swapped her machines for her pad making her way over to Stark, touching his arm gently to move his attentions away from Jack. Wary of being away from his body Jack stepped towards them needing to be closer if he had any chance of hearing what they were saying. Eventually he would have to find a way to get their attention and knowing what was going on with his body that task might be a little easier. Even if Jack didn’t have high hopes of understanding if they used all their big science words, but he could try. 

He got as close as he could without passing through either of them and concentrated on their words trying to catch what it was they were saying over the white noise buzzing in his ears. He caught words like massive bruising, concussion and possible coma, none of which sounded good. If Alison thought he fell in to a coma because of his injuries and not because he was pushed out of his body by the jamming machine then they wouldn’t be looking for a cure and he may end up stuck. Though he had a feeling he would only be stuck as long as his body stayed breathing, which he was glad to say he was doing without any sort of life support so he didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to switch him off for now. 

What he needed to do now was try and get someone’s attention so they could fix what ever was really wrong with him. Henry would be his first choice but the engineer was working on something in his garage and Jack didn’t know how to get out of GD or what would happen if he even moved that far away from his body. He would come in eventually when he heard about Jack’s accident, but he didn’t know how long he would be. 

His thought process stuttered to a halt as Jack saw Alison take Stark’s hand leaning in to his side as she spoke what he assumed were comforting words into his ear. Something rose in his chest and Jack frowned watching their intimate embrace until Nathan pulled away. The feeling tricked away when Alison nodded taking up her pad and making her way out of the room in the direction of her office. 

Jack turned back to his bed and found that Stark had pulled up a chair clasping Jack’s limp hand in his. The deep brown of his eyes focused on Jack’s sleeping face as he spoke words that Jack couldn’t hear above the white noise ringing in his ears. 

Jack turned away before Nathan brought his hand to his lips and spotted Jo. She was still in the corridor on the phone and by her exaggerated movements probably having a go at the other person on the line. 

Stepping up to her, Jack tried to get her attention by waving a hand in front of her face, placing a hand on her shoulder even trying a shove sending his hands straight through her. Jack swiped at her phone frustrated his attempts weren’t working. Jo pulled it away from her ear so fast Jack jumped back in surprise. A slow smile started to form on his face; he could affect phones, which meant he could find a way to speak to someone. 

ALTERNATE

Jack slumped next to his bed trying not to fall through it. He’d not been as successful as he’d hoped. He’d spent all day running down anyone speaking on their phone and trying to get a message across. He’d tried yelling, Morse code and anything else he could think of and the most anyone had done was taken their phone apart to see what was wrong with it. He had however gotten one thing out of all his attempts. The white noise constantly buzzing in his ears was lowered to a dull roar so he could now hear what people were actually saying. It seemed all it took was a bit of practise, so he had hope he would eventually figure out how to speak to someone. 

Nathan still sat where he had left him pad now in hand as he read some journal article or checked results or something. Every now and then his eyes would dart up wards to Jack’s sleeping face then back to his pad. Jack frowned, Stark must have been sitting there all day if the state his suit was in was any indication, all crumpled around the waist and legs. 

The pad pinged and Nathan’s fingers flew across the screen, “Ally, is everything all right?” he asked eyes crinkling in concern. Jack moved around the bed so he could look over Stark’s shoulder taking in the screen with Alison’s face and the background of their bunker. 

“Nathan, yes everything is fine. Jenna’s playing with her toys. I just wanted to ask if you needed anything,” a smile twitched at her lips, “SARAH’s worried you’re not coming home tonight and thought you might like your toothbrush.”

“I don’t think the sheriff would appreciate bad breath when he wakes up,” SARAH’s concerned metallic voice came over the speakers. It always amazed Jack how much emotion a computer could convey. 

“I have everything I need here thank you Ally, Sarah. I’ll be fine,” Nathan replied a sad smile on his lips as his eyes flickered to Jack’s face once again. 

“Ok, well I’ll be taking Jenna home then, so I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alison said, “But you make sure you get some sleep, the orderlies can put you in one of the beds.”

“I will Ally,” Nathan’s left eyebrow dipped slightly, a tell tale sign he was lying, “Say good night to Jenna for us, tell her we’ll be home soon.”

“I will,” Alison smiled, “Good night Nathan.”

“Good night Ally,” Nathan signed off placing the pad on his lap.

“Ally’s looking after Jenna for the night,” Nathan sighed rubbing at his eyes. 

Jack started, “You can see me, why didn’t you..?” he asked incredulously, but his hopes faded quickly as Nathan continued taking up Jack limp hand.

“I’ve rung Zoe, I didn’t want her finding out from anyone else,” Nathan stoked a thumb across the ring Jack had grown used to wearing and he felt a tingle, “Jo and Fargo have the lab cleared and they’re analysing the molecular nitrate jammer, the doohiky,” Nathan smiled at his little joke, “I’ve been going through the results. It seems the molecular neutron stabiliser was not connected correctly to the...”

Jack just let Nathan’s voice wash over him as he explained the mechanism, not really understanding any of the scientific Jargon. It was just nice after a day of trying to get everyone’s attention to have someone actually speaking to him, even if Stark didn’t know he was actually listening. 

ALTERNATE

Jack jerked out of his stupor. The night had been long and how he was now he could not sleep. Nathan had stayed at his bedside speaking to him in the quiet of the medbay. Eventually Stark had fallen asleep head resting beside Jack’s elbow and so he had instead listen to the man’s steady breath as the monitors beat out a steady rhythm in the background allowing himself to drift through the early hours of the morning as the night staff went about their duties. 

What pulled him back was Zoe walking through the door and punching Nathan in the arm pulling him from sleep with a snort, “ What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She demanded as Stark blinked up at her, because even the great Nathan Stark was not at his best in the morning.

“You think dad would want you to pine at his bedside and waste away, I don’t think so,” Zoe scolded him like she would always scold Jack and that surprised him. And it also surprised him that she was here. She was supposed to be at school. 

“I rang you so you would know, not for you to come here. You should be at school,” Nathan finally replied straightening his crumpled suit as he stood.

“I came because I know you,” Zoe accused pointing a finger in Stark’s face, “If I didn’t come then you’d sit by dad’s bed all alone until he woke up. Plus,” Zoe smiled, “I don’t have any classes until Tuesday so that gives me two days here before I have to head back. And,” she confessed, “I want to be near dad too.”

“He will wake up soon,” Nathan assured taking his long strides to the nearest free chair and pulled in up beside the bed next to his.

“But you said coma,” Zoe asked concern bleeding into her voice as she deflated from her rant. 

“He hasn’t woken up yet even though he is still breathing on his own which is a good sign,” Nathan told her his eyes on Jack, “But he’s not responding to outside stimuli.”

“So it is coma,” Zoe confirmed clutching at Nathan’s hand, “from the concussion.”

Nathan nodded squeezing her hand as his eyes flickered over Jack’s sleeping face. 

“Dad’s strong he’ll fight through this,” Zoe tried a smile to reassure the man as Jack watched on from his particle form and he realised how much his daughter cared for Nathan and how he cared for her like his own daughter.

Zoe let go of Nathan’s hand and took her dad’s, feeling his pulse even as the monitors beat it out, “So how’s Jenna, she with Alison?” 

“Yes, and she’s good, getting brighter everyday. I’ll have to bring her in to see Jack,” Nathan spoke helping her to fill the silence that had settled until the medbay became a bustling hub once more as it filled with GD’s medical staff, the night watchers disappearing to their beds. 

“Zoe? What do you think your doing here?” Jo demanded striding in to the medbay, Alison behind her. 

“I came to see dad, I couldn’t not,” she replied quickly standing so Jo could wrap her arms around her in comfort.

“No I suppose not,” Jo pulled back turning to Jack laid out on the bed her eyes filled with concern, “We have cleaned up the lab and looked at the jammer. It was a miss placed wire that caused the explosion. It shouldn’t have happened.”

“But it did and dad tried to save the day again,” Zoe said.

“That’s Jack,” Alison smiled pulling his chart from the end of the bed, checking the readings written down by the night nurse. 

“How is he?” Zoe asked.

Alison set down the chart and looked at them all, “No change, which means he’s still stable, but no signs of waking.”

Jack cursed, they still really thought it was the concussion that had him in the coma. He needed now more then ever to get their attention because the longer it took the harder it would be for it to be fixed. 

Fargo walked in with Henry and Grace, finishing his explanation of the device that had caused his accident: their group was complete as they crowded around Jack’s bed reassuring each other that he would be fine. Jack stepped back not wanting to end up standing in someone. Larry, Fargo’s ever-present shadow lingered in the background Bluetooth stuck in his ear so he could field calls. 

That gave Jack an idea. Quick as he could he crossed the room and shoved his hand into Larry’s ear. The man yelped grabbing at the device and flung it across the room. 

“Sorry Sir, my phone..” Larry tried weakly snapping to attention as the group crowded around Jack’s bed turn their eyes to Fargo’s assistant, “It’s not my fault, we’ve been getting reports of other phones doing the same thing,” he finished trying remove the blame from himself with his usual bravo as he strode across the room to retrieve his Bluetooth. 

“What is the same thing?” Henry asked looking curious. Jack grinned, he could always count on Henry to ask the right questions. 

“Wait are you talking about that ear splitting burst of crackling,” Jo cutting in trying to work out what it was they were talking about, “Because that happened to me yesterday, while I was here in fact.”

Larry nodded, “And where else has this happened and why haven’t I been informed?” Fargo demanded of his assistant.

“I didn’t think it was important enough to worry you with Sir,” Larry replied meekly still managing to sound like he’s usually arrogant self.

“Where have the reports been coming from?” Henry asked walking to Larry so he could take his Bluetooth and examine it more closely. 

“Just this floor, and only yesterday,” Larry confirmed quickly stepping back to give Henry more room. 

“And the device yesterday, that was to emit a Molecular magnetic wave length but the wires that crossed were the input and external dampener completely reconfiguring the molecular neutron stabiliser,” Henry confirmed at Fargo’s nod, Stark looking at him curiously. 

“You don’t think?” He asked straightening, “That’s just a theory and an extremely weak one at that,” he continued standing so he too could check the device in Henry’s hand, “It’s more likely a localised fluctuating jamming field caused by one of the experiments on this floor.”

“It could explain…”Henry trailed off nodding at Jack’s prone form in the hospital bed.

“But that would be...” Grace added a sceptic tone touching her voice as she looked at her husband. 

“Alison, you said he’s vitals are stable and everything is functioning normally,” Nathan turned to Alison seeking confirmation. 

“Yes I did,” Alison nodded a slight frown marring her forehead as she attempted to work out exactly what they were going on about.

“Which isn’t consistent with coma caused by head trauma,” Nathan continued.

“No,” a spark formed in her eyes as she understood what Nathan was getting at, “So you’re thing the device caused the coma, not his concussion?”

“Wait, wait what are you getting at?” Zoe butted in swinging her gaze between the theorising Scientists, “What do you mean it was the device?”

“We think there is a chance that the device might have disrupted something in Jack’s brain signals, which would separate his thought and personal functions from his body, creating something like an out of body experience,” Henry explained.

Zoe frowned, “Is that even possible?” she asked incredulously, “I mean that’s not even…”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Jo stepped in pulling her phone out of her pocket, “Jack if you’re here then try and signal us.”

Jack grinned, he had no idea what they were all going on about but whatever it was they figured out his situation like he knew they would. Stepping next to Jo he tapped his finger through the device causing, three short, three long, three short bursts of static and stepped back waiting. 

“SOS,” Jo breathed, “That’s Jack, he’s here.”

“Wait you mean Dad’s been here, having some sort of out of body experience this whole time?!” Zoe exclaimed throwing her hands in the arm in frustration, “So what are you going to do about it?” she demanded of the room eyes straying to Nathan. 

“We are going to fix it,” Nathan replied determination seeping into his voice, “Director, where’s the device we need a lab to work on it.”

After a pause Fargo replied still not use to Stark calling him director, “Right of course anything you need, Larry” He nodded calling his assistant forward before turning to Jack’s bed patting his blanket clad foot, “don’t worry sheriff we’ll get you back.”

ALTERNATE

Jack watched as Nathan hunched over his desk, hands finding their way into his hair in frustration. It had been three days since Henry had theorised what was wrong with Jack, and three days of failed attempts to put him back in his body. Each failed attempt caused Jack’s vitals to drop and him to fade. Now whatever particles made up his ghostly body where dull and disappearing leaving him even more of a ghost then when he started. They had one chance left, one chance to put Jack back together or he would fall into a coma for real and maybe never wake up. 

Zoe had refused to leave until Jack woke and so Nathan had assigned her to baby-sitting Jenna to keep her out of trouble. Alison was not pleased when Jenna was happy to stay with her big sister but she soon put aside her distress as she too helped to fix Jack. 

Now Jack stood, or more like floated at the edge of Nathan’s desk watching the man work, listening to his theories and calculations even though he could neither understand the scientific jargon, nor answer back. The man hadn’t slept since he had found out he could do something to bring Jack back. And watching him run himself into the ground Jack had realised that the man, that Nathan Stark truly loved him. Under all that arrogance and bravo, he had shown how much each time he had laid out Jack’s unfirm in the morning, explained what Jack found hard to understand without being patronising, ordered his favourite food in Café Diam, bristled when Jack showed a little too much interest in Alison and when he had let Jack have his space when they were at home knowing how uncomfortable he became when Nathan got too close. All these things and more Jack had just brushed off, or ignored as just some weird scheme of Nathan’s to catch him off guard, but he had been wrong. And now he knew that if he survived this he would tell Nathan the truth. He had found he couldn’t bare to hurt Nathan further by continuing in the façade even if it broke the promise he had made to the others. 

“Jack, I’ve found it,” Nathan’s triumphant voice broke him out of his thoughts as a smile pulled at his slowly fading lips. 

ALTERNATE

Even Jack was able to the feel the tension in the air as Nathan, Henry, Fargo and Alison all stood around his bed, each at the ready to manipulate the device they were assigned to. The others waited outside the medbay hoping for the best. Jack floated by his own head as instructed. This time it should work. This time he should close his eyes and find himself back in his body. 

Jack had faith in his friends that everything would turn out all right, but he just wished he had the chance to say something to their words of assurance. The phone they had set up for him to communicate could only be used to tell them he was ready as he tapped out the correct rhythm.

Henry nodded in response and started the count down focusing one eye on his device and the other on Jack’s bed. A high-pitched whining filled the room piercing through Jack’s non-existent eardrums. He could feel it pulling at the particles that made up his body, ripping him apart. His lips opened in a silent scream as blackness took him under. The last thing he saw was Nathan frantically scrambling at his device, a shimmer of tears glistening in the deep brown of his eyes. 

ALTERNATE

Jack gasped awake his blue eyes flying open taking in the oppressive silence of the medbay, a silence ended abruptly by the racing of his heart monitor and the scrambling of medical staff as they rushed to his side to check him over. The first person at his side was Zoe, jumping on top of him in an attempt to squeeze the life out of him.

“Dad, oh my god we thought we’d lost you,” she exclaimed wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

“I’m ok, It’s ok,” Jack murmured wrapping his arms around his daughter, tubes and wires trailing from his hands. He had to extract himself from Zoe as all the others crowded around his bed, big smiles full of relief plastered across their faces. 

“We thought you’d left us for a bit there sheriff,” Fargo said patting him on the shoulder, before he moved back to left Jo wrap her arms around him in Zoe’s place.

“Don’t ever do that again or you’ll regret it,” Jo warned pulling back, a slight catch in her voice.

“Don’t worry,” Jack coughed realising his mouth was drying then the Sahara, “I won’t.”

“Here Jack you might want this,” Henry smiled handing him a glass of water, “You really gave us a scare Jack.”

“And we would like it if you gave us a bit more warning before you do anything like that ever again, “ Grace cut in arms folded across her chest disapprovingly before she gave in and wrapped them around Jack, hugging a bit more of his life from him. 

“I’ll try not to,” Jack joked trying not to drop the glass of water in his hand. 

“I’ll take that,” Alison smiled pulling the glass from his hand before he dropped it ushering the others aside so she could get to her patient, “How are you feeling Jack?” she asked dark eyes searching over his features for any signs of pain or anything unusual.

“I feel ok,” Jack admitted slumping against the pillows, “Just a little tired.”

“I’d say that’s pretty normal after spending four days in a coma,” she smiled checking his readings, “Everything else looks fine at first glance, but you are not going anywhere until I run full tests,” She warned quickly before Jack could say anything about leaving the medbay prematurely. 

“I’ll bring Jenna this afternoon,” Zoe called out as they were all asked to leave the medbay so Alsion could run her tests, and Jack felt something, a press in his chest that could only be described as disappointment. Nathan wasn’t here when he had woken up and he hadn’t come after he’d woken.

“I had to sedate him,” Alison spoke up as she wrapper the cuff around his arm to take is blood pressure.

“What?” Jack asked confused barely realising Alison had seen his eyes questing around the medbay in search of the bearded man.

“Nathan, I had to sedate him after he thought we’d put you into a coma,” She explained removing the cuff before checking the chart to make sure his readings had come up, “He’s sleeping it off in his office,” the look she gave him them, just shy of a smile, but holding so much more emotion startled Jack as she continued, “I’ve never seen him so worked up before, I wasn’t sure what he would do if you hadn’t woken up.”

“I, “ Jack started finding his words, “He was like that when you were infected with the bio-lumi stuff.”

“Bio-luminescence,” Alison corrected, “I suppose I wasn’t really awake to see it.”

“No, but I saw everything both times he really…” Jack trailed off not able to say it out loud just yet.

“He really loves you,” Alison finished for him, “And I hope Jack that you sort this out, because I love you both and I don’t want to see anyone hurt.”

“I know,” Jack nodded falling silent allowing Alison to finish her tests.

Once she had finished pocking and prodding Jack spoke up pulling himself up so he was sitting up properly, “Can I see him?” he asked, “I know he’s a sleep, but I want to make sure he’s ok, he didn’t sleep at all and…”

Alison nodded a smile touching her lips as she placed his chart in the holder at the end of his bed, “Only if you can walk on your own and take it slowly,” she consented helping Jack pull back the covers before retrieving a dressing gown from the medical store across the room. 

“Thanks,” Jack replied as she draped the lightweight fabric over his shoulders, specially designed to keep anyone warm apparently, and he found his feet. 

The trip to Nathan’s office was the longest trip Jack had experienced, and not just because he had to walk slowly with Alison holding his elbow so he wouldn’t topple over. Thoughts raced through his head, the deserted corridors providing no distraction. His head was filled with everything from what he should say to Nathan about their time travel escapade to how he needed to confess about not being gay. Nothing he said could really make up for breaking the man’s heart. 

The office door whooshed after Alison typed in the key and she allowed Jack to step in on his own. Nathan was laid out on a cot set up in the corner, dwarfed by the huge glass desk that took up more of the space. Jack knew that the office was usually so clean and ordered, but the last three days had not been kind. Papers and pads were scattered across the desk and weird looking devices and equipment had been moved out of the way to make room for the cot in the unusually cluttered office. 

Shuffling over to the cot, Jack was glad Alison had removed the various drips so he didn’t have to trail one of those annoying pole things, with the saline bags. Large bags under Nathan’s eyes marred his pale face as he slept fitfully the sedative keeping him under. Alison had said it had been about 3 hours since they had put him back in his body, so the sedative she had used on Nathan should be wearing off soon. 

Kneeling down was a bit of challenge with weak limbs but Jack managed it so he could be closer to the man that had almost burned himself out to save Jack’s life. His hand smoothed Nathan’s marred forehead before he realised he was doing it.

Then completely unprepared as he was when brown eyes fluttered open he just went with it as the man surged up capturing his lips in an searing kiss, the whisper of his name on his lips. Relaxing into the arms that snaked their way around him as Nathan sat up Jack missed the knowing smile that had found its way onto Alison’s lips before she retreated from the room allowing the door to close behind her. 

ALTERNATE

A week later and Jack was allowed to go home with a well-rested Nathan, now that Jack had insisted he get some proper sleep. Zoe had also returned to school on his insistence after spending the weekend looking after Jenna, he didn’t want her to miss any more classes because of him. The kiss had been a topic avoided completely by Jack as he tried to pretend it didn’t happen, even when his thoughts had a tendency to slip back towards the feel of Nathan’s lips on his and the security of his arms around him and the way his beard tickled his chin and his tongue.. Yes a topic Jack avoided completely. 

With Jenna staying with Alison on her insistence Jack knew that tonight was the best chance he would have to tell Nathan the truth about everything. Nathan made dinner, a simple pasta dish and they ate together with SARAH chatting over their shoulders glad to hear that Jack was all better and happy to give her opinions on the failings of safety protocols and informing Jack that he had to take better care of himself so he wouldn’t cause Nathan anymore worry. The ‘conversation’ became much more amusing when she switched her focus to Nathan and his bad sleeping habits. 

Jack was a bit relieved when dinner was over and they could retreat to the couch and the television giving him a good excuse to tell Sarah to quit her nagging and be quiet while they watched what ever program was on. A program jack barely paid attention to as he shifted, shooting quick looks over at Nathan and trying to work out when would be the best time to bring up the whole time travel thing. During an add maybe, but then that could ruin the rest of the program, but after might be too late because it would be time to get ready for bed. He could bring it up in bed, but Jack thought it was much better to be in close proximity to the door just in case Nathan took it the wrong way. 

“Jack?” Nathan’s question brought him out of his thoughts and he suppressed his embarrassment when he realised Nathan had been aware of his glances.

“Yeah?” Jack replied trying to look like he hadn’t been caught out.

“Was there something you wanted to talk about?” The Scientist looked at him, his eyebrow rising slightly in his curious amusement. 

“Um yeah actually there is,” Jack managed after a pause deciding now would be as good a time as any, and Nathan was asking and waiting patiently for what ever it was Jack needed to say, “I’m, we, Jo, Henry, Alison, Fargo and I travelled back to 1947 and then when we came back everything had changed, “ Jack started to explain, the words tumbling out, “Fargo was director of GD, Kevin was normal, Jo was head of security, Henry was married, and I, I was married to you. You, we weren’t together before. You died to save us, I watched you die. And I. I’m not your Jack, I’ve never even been with a man before,” Jack finished hardly aware he’d reached out taking Nathan’s hand in his. 

Jack had expected Nathan’s reaction to be anything from a simple frown to a disgusted out burst. What he did not expect was a brilliant smile. 

“I know,” Nathan smile using their clasped hands to pull Jack forward as he spluttered in surprise. 

“What do you mean you know?” he demanded extremely confused. 

“I’ve known since the day you arrived, “ Nathan smirked and decided to explain, “How you reacted around me was not subtle and testing your jacket confirmed it was not from this decade. Trevor Grant I recognised as the scientist that disappeared in 1947 from the Eureka military base, which confirmed my theory of time travel and the date you had come from.”

Jack started at him when Nathan paused dark eyes watching him as he took in the sheriff’s reaction. 

“Everything else, like the others that went with you, and the confirmation of an established alternative universe came later,” Nathan finished.

“Oh, then why, why are we even. I’m not your Jack. I don’t…” Jack trailed off not really sure what he should say after that explanation as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that Nathan had known, but he still continued to keep up the façade of their relationship, still loved him. 

“But that’s where you’re wrong,” Nathan smirk softened into a smile, “Even with different memories you have proven to be my Jack. And I’m still in love with you.”

“But I’m not gay, I,” Jack exclaimed still a little in shock and wondering why Sarah hadn’t said anything.

“You’ve said that before,” Nathan teased, “But I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Wait what!?” Jack asked completely confused by what Nathan was saying. 

“You didn’t think it was you who did the chasing did you,” Nathan’s smirk was back, his fingers caressing Jack’s a little too suggestively for his liking.

“I never really thought about it,” Jack replied finally finding his words as the situation dissolved in to their natural banter. 

“You waltzed into town in you’re tight Sheriff’s uniform, completely confused by all the science, yet just as brilliant in your own way. I couldn’t resist making you mine,” Nathan leaned forwards breath brushing over Jack’s cheek, “And I don’t take no for an answer.”

“And now?” Jack asked observing him with cool blue eyes refusing to back down. 

“Now I just get to seduce you all over again,” Nathan’s dark eyes glittered in the light. 

“I don’t..” Jack closed his eyes listening to Nathan’s breath. Everything Nathan had done since Jack had arrived back from 1947 had forced Jack to look at the Scientist in a new light, to see him as a man, not just an annoying rival, in both work and Alison’s affections. How now he was just realising that his heart was telling him that he might just be falling in love with the man sitting in front of him. And as much as he hated to admit it Nathan was extremely attractive when he wasn’t being a smarmy bastard.

Opening his eyes, and seeing the concern hidden behind the expectant bravo on Nathan’s face made Jack smile, removing the gap between then as he whispered against Nathan’s lips, “I guess I can live with that.”

It wouldn’t be perfect, far from it but Jack was willing to try, not just for Nathan’s sake but for Jenna’s as well. And if he let himself fall then he might just find that loving an arrogant, self-absorbed, obsessive, dedicated, kind Scientist with a beard wasn’t so bad. 

ALTERNATE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End, hope you enjoyed ☺
> 
> I may consider a sequel at some point, where Nathan ended up in the ship to titan instead of Alison, but I’ll see what you guys think of the end of with story before I start writing.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.


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